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The world cannot have too much hope, too many dreams, or enough good music Sarah's fans have been waiting for the release of this new album, with great amounts of anticipation. Once again, this lady with the smoothest voice around has fulfilled our desires for more great music in her almost magical style. Here is an album of 13 tracks, seven of which were penned by Sarah alone, and another four that were co-written with her husband Merel Bregante. One of those is a new version of a previously released Sarah Pierce hit, titled, "Hard Road." I must say though, if you were familiar with the original version and heard this new version without knowing the name, you could easily believe you were listening to a song you'd never heard before. The original version from the "No Place Like Home" album was done as a medium-fast tempo rock/country-rock song, and it was good enough to have already been put on my Favorite Songs list. This version however, is done in a slower blues style, with completely different instrumentation and arrangement, and is sung in a bluesy voice by our song mistress, Sarah. It is so good that I haven't been able to decide if I like either version better. So I've had no choice left to me but to do something I've never done before, and put two different versions of the same song on my Favorite Songs list. What a delightful dilemma!!! Another wonderful surprise on this album, was Sarah's cover of the old 70s hit originally done by The Youngbloods, Chet Power's "Get Together" (a.k.a. "Let's Get Together"). Here again, Sarah plays with our minds. She slows down the tempo, alters the phrasing a little, updates the orchestration and instrumentation, and comes away with a song that sounds entirely different, and much, much better than the original version. You must hear this recording of an old favorite done anew. "Any other good songs on this disc? You betcha!! It's nothing but good songs, including the title cut, "Love's The Only Way", as well as "Modern Day Robin Hood", Calliope", "I Gotta Let Me Go", "My Kinda Day", and "Wings." But, I have to be honest and tell you that there are three other songs on here that are going on my Favorite Songs list in addition to the new version of "Hard Road." One of them is titled "Some Days," which opens as a slow, soft ballad done with only an acoustic guitar in the background, and then, about 50 seconds into the first verse, it kicks with the rest of the band dropping in behind her. The combination of styling, guitars, keyboard and Merel's drums, and that wonderful voice, is just fabulous. Like all of Sarah's songs, it's a story being set to music and the effect is marvelous. The second of the three is a song written by Kimmie Rhodes, titled "I'm Not An Angel," which starts the first 70 seconds or so with just Sarah and a solo keyboard working behind her. Then the rest of the band chimes in with a kick to the tempo taking it into a slow rock style and finally finishing off with a synthesizer taking the lead and easing you back down. Great work by everybody!! The last of the three is "Talk To Me." This song would probably get a lot of votes from the slow jazz and blues crowd, as being the best on the disc, and I don't think I could argue with that at all. The blues treatment Sarah gives it with her voice is well matched by the truly fine work being done in the background by the band. Here again, the combination and styling of the instrument package used as the foundation of the piece is a spectacular example of how this whole group just gels together into a splendid listener's delight. I offer my congratulations to Sarah and the entire group on issuing such a fine album, and my thanks for enriching the lives of all us mere mortals who are left with our mouths agape trying to imagine the talent required to create music such as this. From all your fans, "Thank you."" Doug Morris, IMAG Founder Indie Music Appreciation Group http://indiemusicgroup.com, 2003 |